-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Lower Saxony , the state hardest hit by Germany 's tainted egg scandal , has lifted a quarantine on 3,000 poultry and hog farms after tests proved negative for increased dioxin levels , officials said Monday .

The state may lift the quarantine on more farms once additional test results come in Monday , said the state 's ministry for consumer protection and agriculture .

Also Monday , Germany 's minister for agriculture and consumer affairs , Ilse Aigner , published an initiative for animal feed safety in reaction to the scandal . The initiative calls for consideration of harsher punishments for violations of the law . The list was published after a crisis meeting between Aigner and representatives of the country 's animal feed industry .

`` Today , events like the discovery of dioxin animal are not merely local in nature anymore . They have regional and possibly even global effects in concerning public health and economic damage , '' the initiative says . `` The federal ministries for consumer protection and justice together will explore the need to adjust current laws . ''

The initiative also calls for stricter registration rules and a strict separation of ingredients for animal feeds and those for other industrial processes .

Meanwhile , Danish investigators said Monday they are looking into the possibility that contaminated animal feed from Germany may have been given to hens in Denmark .

The feed , contaminated with dioxin , was purchased by a Danish firm late last year , said Kim Vandrup Sigsgaard with the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration .

`` There is an ongoing investigation to see if the contaminated feed was consumed by breeder hens , which are not meant for consumption , '' he said .

Such hens are bred for their eggs , and not sold for their meat , he said .

Sigsgaard said his agency was warned about the feed entering Denmark by the European Union 's food safety system , the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed , on Sunday .

Last week , Germany filed criminal charges against the company at the heart of the country 's tainted egg scandal .

The company , Harles and Jentzsch , apparently knew for months that fatty acid it was delivering to animal-feed makers was contaminated with dioxin , said Christian Seifert , a spokesman for the agricultural ministry in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein .

Criminal charges have been filed against the company , Seifert said , `` because they did not immediately inform '' the agricultural ministry that dioxin levels surpassed the allowed amount .

Authorities allege that the company sold about 3,000 tons of contaminated fatty acids to dozens of companies making animal feed across Germany . In response , the government quarantined more than 4,700 pig and poultry farms .

Harles and Jentzsch laboratory tests from March 2010 showed they exceeded the ceiling level for dioxin , he said .

`` At that point they had to stop delivering this product and immediately inform the authorities . They did not do either , '' Seifert said .

Government officials learned of the higher concentrations of dioxin in December , he said .

Several attempts to reach Harles and Jentzsch last week for comment were unsuccessful .

Dioxin levels in the final feed product were diluted and it is likely they did not exceed allowed amounts , Seifert said .

`` Of course that is no excuse . The conduct is still wrong , '' he said .

The farms shut down include not only ones raising chickens and other poultry , but also pig farms , said Pierre Vetter , a spokesman for Germany 's Ministry for Agriculture and Consumer Protection .

State authorities quarantined all farms that received animal feed from companies affected , regardless of whether there is proof that the feed was contaminated , the ministry 's website said .

`` The state authorities are right to quarantine products -- eggs and meat -- that may have been exposed to contaminated feed , even if there is no concrete scientific evidence in all cases , '' Aigner said in a statement .

About 130,000 possibly contaminated eggs were exported from a company in Germany to a food company in Netherlands , where they were to be used in industrial food production , said Holger Eichele , a spokesman for Germany 's Ministry for Agriculture and Consumer Protection .

The UK Food Standards Agency said a pasteurized mixture including some of the contaminated eggs was distributed in Britain .

`` The mixing of the eggs will have diluted the levels of dioxins and they are not thought to be a risk to health , '' the agency said in a statement .

Dioxins are a family of toxic chemicals that share a similar chemical structure and have been characterized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as likely human carcinogens .

CNN 's Laura Perez Maestro in London contributed to this report .

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NEW : Germany publishes initiative for animal feed safety

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Lower Saxony says it may lift the quarantine on more farms

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Denmark thinks some contaminated feed may have been given to hens there

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A German official says a company knew its fatty acid was contaminated with dioxin